• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

The Lure of The PDP-8

patscc said:
I just discovered there actually a Wiki entry on it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cromemco_Dazzler
The specs on are actually pretty slick.
patscc
Click to expand...

I read that. I was just surprised by all the interest and that someone bought it separately. Probably for a bit as well. The graphics boards, no matter how early, don't seem to get a lot of love in collector land. Finding software is usually impossible. I haven't looked for dazzler software so if there is I am ignorant of it. I come from UNIX land where if it was a 3rd party board drivers have been long lost.
 
They get a lot of love here, that's for sure. You need to read some of trikster (boy, I hope I got that right)'s posts. You really need to dig up a copy of the original article (hint:library ILL) to really appreciate it. I mentioned it earlier, it supported genlock, and I'm hoping someone else will jump in here and comment on when then next system ( available to 'enthusiasts' ) supporting genlock came out.
Oh, and this stuff is from way before drivers. This was kinda of a 'here's the schematic on how to build it' meets 'here's the assembler you need to be able to write to the boards memory', and that was it. Stuff like drivers was still waay off in the future, since that implied certain features of the operating system, and well... personal computer OS's were still a bit of a work in progress at the time.
patscc
 
patscc said:
I'm hoping someone else will jump in here and comment on when then next system ( available to 'enthusiasts' ) supporting genlock came out.
Click to expand...
I'm actually a little curious. I know the Amiga was a popular video-editing system for having solid video capabilities and available genlock cards, but I doubt it was the next. The TI-99's VDP supported video overlay, but I don't know that the system itself actually had provisions for a genlock device. And both of them came around much later than the Dazzler's 1976 release date...
 
commodorejohn said
Amiga was a popular video-editing system
Click to expand...
Not just that, you could expand them and end up with some incredible rendering abilities. A cluster of them was used for rendering in the Babylon 5 pilot.

Well, my next offering, mainly 'cause I got one, and it runs CP/M, is a Sony SMC-70G, but there's gotta be other stuff out there. Still waiting for the video geeks to chime in.
patscc
 
Genlock is sort of a generic term. Are there any primary sources to say Cromemco came up with the idea or the Dazzler was really the first to do it ? I also get searches saying it was the worlds first color graphics card
 
Last edited:
Both. I'm hearing that it was both an excellent deal, yet still an absolutely massive amount of money.
My car isn't even worth HALF that.
 
This equipment is only going to continue to appreciate in value. I think that's because the equipment itself is being appreciated more and more for the contributions it made to science and industry.

The other neat part, is that it's still restorable and operable by private individuals. If you've ever been to a VCF, it's great fun to watch nearly 40 year old magnetic media still working. Dectape is increadibly robust, and the tape itself was very well made. I'm sure we'll keep seeing TU56s working even 30 years from now.

Lou
 
It was a very steep price. But here are some things that speaks in favour of it:

1. Complete! No scrounging for DECtape or memory
2. Comes with both video and paper terminal (asr33 with manuals). And not just any videoterminal but a decscope
3. Unusual colorscheme (industrial) with matching halfheight rack!
4. Loads of manuals (some I've never seen before) and engineering drawings.

All in decent condition. Things like this rarely pop up.
 
Think it would take the fun out of it getting everything all at once and for it to be working. Think that’s always the best part for me is finding all the parts, finding the documentation, repairing and restoring the hardware and finally figuring out how to load and run the systems. Once that’s all done. And everything is working I have little interest in the systems. when you buy a complete system and everything is right there for you ready to go what’s the point? Maybe there is something in being able to say you have one, or if you’re a museum or something but for an individual who’s not a hardware person why not just run an emulator? At least that’s how I see it but I am a hardware person and a complete idiot when it comes to software. Maybe some people like to develop, load and run applications on vintage frames?
 
Yes, some of us like real hardware but don't necessarily relish the repairs process. (I don't mind it, myself, as long as it's not too hair-pulling, but it's not why I'm into vintage computing.) It's cool just to have a machine like that and know that, in this day and age, it still works, and to use it for stuff in your free time :)
 
I was also watching this industrial PDP - a very interesting lot. It wouldn't surprise me if the seller came across this system at scrap prices: I have attended various government/county auctions, and have seen mainframe lots go for peanuts (for example, a complete Sperry/Univac mainframe system sold for $15!), so a mini like this might be found, with enough diligence, for somewhat less. The general public tend to equate obsolete computer hardware with little value: I have never had to pay much more than $20-30 for my better finds at auction (like a Casio AS-L Nixie tube calculator for $1, or a Xerox 820 8 inch dual floppy unit for $5).

I enjoy the thrill of the hunt derived from finding these pieces "in the wild" (you can't beat not having to pay collector prices either!). Still, PDPs are elusive - I have yet to come across any, and they look very neat with plenty of lights and switches. I wonder if anyone still finds monsters like the PDP-10 through non collector channels anymore - I'd love to save a cool piece of iron from ravenous scrappers:).
 
Local and government auctions in Canada are really hard to register for. My dad even works at the provincial level and even he can't go. They discourage the public from going as well. They really started clamping down on what electronics they also sold after an incident a few years back where several boxes full of unwiped QIC tapes got sold and the media found out.
 
About ten or fifteen years ago I had a good thing going with attending local auctions at places like Dover Air Force base, NASA auctions at Wallops and Goddard but one by one that’s all gone. First the government ended local auctions and that hack company Government Liquidators started selling everything on line and then NASA followed the same model with selling everything on line via GSA Auctions on line. Not that the companies are that difficult to deal with but the real problem is now everything sells for so much that I cannot make any money reselling it. I use to buy things and list them on line or take them to hamfest and the deal was I needed to get about twice what I paid for it to make any kind of profit, after all had to take time off work to bid, another day to go collect the stuff up and sit on the stuff before it sold so it was not like easy money but it was fun to do. Now things sell for more on GL and GSA online then you can buy the same item on EBay and way more than you would pay at a hamfest so although I still look and bid very rarely win anything. GSA Auctions web link is:
http://gsaauctions.gov/gsaauctions/gsaauctions/
And they do have occasional good deals on mixed lots of electronics but all the computer stuff is way to new for me. The days of the Dec, IBM and Sperry systems are long gone, closest I saw was a complete HP-1000 with drives and several other parts but that was almost ten years ago. Everything is Dell and Compaq today.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top